On Monday night the A team faced a strong Clifton side. Andrew had a very smooth and quick win over one of the top local juniors. Playing his favourite Colle-Zukertort System he dominated the centre with a Pillsbury Attack formation (d4, f4 and Ne5). His opponent allowed a pin on the d-file and Andrew crashed through in the centre with his pawns. There was nothing his opponent could do and he resigned on move 22 a whole rook down. great play by Andrew.
On board one Baptiste played a King’s Indian system against his opponent’s flank opening and quickly built up pressure on the kingside. The pressure was relentless as Baptiste continually probed the weaknesses around his opponent’s king. It was one way traffic and Baptiste eventually broke through. A very nice game indeed.
Lana, on board six, had a very steady and solid opening where both players seemed to be cancelling each other out. Then his opponent mistakenly allows Lana a protected passed pawn on a6. A draw was agreed in a winning position. I wasn’t there so it may be that Lana was in time trouble. Santosh, on board five also had a a solid position, probably drawn until the late middle game. I don’t know what happened then as the last moves weren’t recorded due to time pressure - I can only assume that Santosh made a mistake in the scramble as the win went to the Clifton player.
Edward on board three had a heater skeleton game playing a Dutch/Queen’s Indian against his opponent’s flank opening. On move 11 it looked like Edward had gone wrong allowing a simultaneous attack on a bishop on b7 and pawn on e6. In fact his position was still okay and in a very complicated position both players played really well. Edward was two pawns down but he had a lot of play in compensation while his opponent’s pieces all a bit off-side. In fact by move 24 Edward was probably winning. An inaccuracy, however, allowed white to almost equalise although Edward kept pressing for the win. Unfortunately, in a totally drawn position Edward missed a knight and that was the end.
I haven’t seen Oliver’s game which was another loss. So Clifton beat us 3.5-2.5, but the result could have been very different. All the games I saw were really impressive and that bodes well for the future.
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